1988 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage (10/7/2009)Tasted in a Burgundy glass - in part to see how such a wine fares in such bulbous stemware.

A smokey, meaty nose with some decent fruit in the background, requiring a swirl to bring it out.

On the palate quite elegant, with the fruit still hanging in there, in good balance with tertiary aspects which give fine complexity. Acidity is nicely supportive of a good length raspberry-accented finish.

It should be a good food match as well - we'll be trying that theory out with Guinea-Fowl, so potentially more thoughts on the wine later.

POSTSCRIPT: Yes, the wine very much 'filled out' when tasted with food and the match was a good one. Going back to the wine after the meal, it's now struggling a little with the raspberry becoming more obvious and dominant.

This is the 2nd bottle of this we had and both have provided plenty of interest. Time to break out the *SIDRAT and head back in time 20 years to pick up what I believe was a very moderately priced wine in it's day.

regards

Ian

* SIDRAT as I got the cheaper model that's significantly smaller on the inside than it looks from the outside (credit: Peter Whitehead, my old geology teacher for that one)